BAN vs AUS 2026: Litton Das 'fifty-fifty' on his fitness ahead of T20I series opener

Bangladesh T20I skipper Litton Das has mentioned that there remains uncertainty over his fitness ahead of the first T20I against Australia on Wednesday, June 17, in Chattogram.

Das suffered a muscle tear in the third ODI, after which Soumya Sarkar was added to the squad as cover. Bangladesh are also monitoring the fitness of the backup wicketkeeper-batter Parvez Hossain Emon, who is battling a fever and a tonsillitis infection.

"First of all, I am better than I was before, better than the condition I was in. But we'll see today, and then after seeing tomorrow, a decision will have to be made regarding my situation. The reason for bringing Soumya in is that I was fifty-fifty; we don't know what might happen, and we have to wait until tomorrow," Das said, as reported by Cricbuzz

"And then Emon has a slight illness. So we didn't want to take the risk of suddenly calling up a player if something happened. That's why we tried to include him (Soumya). He may not be able to practice today, but from tomorrow he will be available and become part of the team," he added.

Sarkar added to Bangladesh's squad as backup for Litton Das

Bangladesh completed a 2-1 series triumph over Australia, their first-ever series win against the Aussies. Das stated that the win boosts their confidence, but the team will need to recalibrate due to this being a different format.

Das further stated that he expects more responsibility from his lower-order batters and will need to anticipate the attacking intent that teams play the T20 format with.

"I'll say again, to beat any team, you have to play very good cricket on the given day. At the same time, as I said in the last series, those who bat in our lower middle order also have a lot of responsibility. If they get opportunities with the bat, and if we get a response from them, I think this team can achieve much better results. This format itself is hard. In the shorter-over format, every team approaches you with attacking intent. In fact, any team, whether batting or bowling, operates with that mindset. And Australia are obviously a big name. So they will try to play their best cricket, and obviously we will try to play our best cricket too," he added.

The skipper also backed left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam, who picked up six wickets in the ODI series.

"No, I don't think Shoriful ever thinks of it that way, that he's not first choice. Of course, he is also a first choice. But as you said, our team now has such a strong pace-bowling unit-whether in Test cricket, ODI cricket or T20 cricket, you can't play more than three pacers," he said.

"So if those three bowl very well on a given day, then one player has to make that sacrifice. I think in the last few series Shoriful may have played one or two games. Even in the last T20 series, he played the final match and bowled well. So it's a good sign that whoever comes into the game and gets an opportunity is delivering," he added.